THE BLACKFACED BREED OF SHEEP. 231 



puzzling diversity. The sheep are universally described as 

 having black faces and legs^^ — hence, of course, their name. In 

 regard to weight, it is more difficult to get at the truth, in con- 

 sequence of the eccentricities of the old Scotch scales, in con- 

 nection with which nearly every county has a law unto itself. 

 But still some reliable information is obtained from Nasmyth, 

 who, as has been said, himself made a tour of personal inspection 

 in the Lanimermuir district in the year 1796. In this man's 

 writings it is stated that " sometimes a fallow or eild ewe from the 

 hill, killed, weighs from 9 to 10 lbs. avoirdupois per quarter." 

 With reference to the fleeces, Xasmyth also gives us some light, 

 in availing one's self of which it must, however, be borne in mind 

 that the practice of smearing was everywhere followed. The 

 statement he makes is that " eight hogg fleeces, nine ewe fleeces, 

 or six wedder fleeces, make a stone of 24 lbs. avoirdupois." Xor 

 does the clip appear to have been any heavier in other districts. 

 In an article on the " Sheep System on the iMoors of Lesmahagow 

 Douglas, Moorkirk, &c.," he states, " from 6 to 7 fleeces make 

 a stone ; the wool is not washed before shearing ; " and then he 

 adds, " salving is general, and in the central parts of the county 

 the tar is very grossly laid on, with very little mixture of 

 butter," " The length of the staple," he says, referring to the 

 Lammermuir district, in a way that Implies that he was writing 

 just before shearing time, " is from 4 to 5 inches long." One 

 fact which it is not unimportant to note, is that there was much 

 more black hair in the wool then than there is now. " The 

 lambs," Nasmyth says, — and in this he is corroborated by several 

 other writers, — " are niostly white, but some have black spots on 

 different parts of the body, and one perhaps in thirty-six is 

 black all over." As to their general appearance, when we come 

 down as far as the beginning of the present century, we find it 

 related in the Farmers Magazine that the points of a good ram 

 are " long and well-turned horns, a long black face, forehead 

 rough and slightly tinged with brown, jaws straight and long, 

 nose long, and nostrils wide." 



A highly interesting cliapter in- the history of the blackfaced 

 is that connected with their introduction to the Hiiih lands. 

 There they were by no means universally welcomed. A ruutU 

 white breed, celebrated for the fineness of their wool, were found 

 in possession ; andtlie admirers of these animals mourned loudly 

 over the inroads of the hardy blackfaced. One of the loudest 

 of these mourners was Dr James Anderson, who, writing in 

 1790 to the Highland Society, relative to tlie improvement of 

 wool ill the northern counties, 5ays, " the coarse-woolled slieep 

 have l>een debasing the breed (meaning the old breed), under 

 the name of improving it, so that I am inclined to believe tliat in 

 the mainland of Scotlnnil the true unmixed breed is irrecover- 

 ably lost." In another passage, Dr Anderson gave it as his 



